Feds to auction off heroin-tainted barber shops

The Gonzalez family owns about 9 barber shops and a barber college in San Antonio, Seguin and Floresville. The barber college (pictured) and six of those locations are among 10 properties that were forfeited to the feds as part of plea deals. Click forward to see the San Antonio-area properties seized and sold.

The Gonzalez family owns about 9 barber shops and a barber college in San Antonio, Seguin and Floresville. The barber college (pictured) and six of those locations are among 10 properties that were forfeited to

The Gonzalez family owns about 9 barber shops and a barber college in San Antonio, Seguin and Floresville. The barber college (pictured) and six of those locations are among 10 properties that were forfeited to the feds as part of plea deals. Click forward to see the San Antonio-area properties seized and sold.

The Gonzalez family owns about 9 barber shops and a barber college in San Antonio, Seguin and Floresville. The barber college (pictured) and six of those locations are among 10 properties that were forfeited to

The federal government is auctioning off nine San Antonio-area properties, among them some barber shops, that agents claim were connected to a drug ring that peddled $8 million in heroin, according to criminal investigators with the Internal Revenue Service.

The properties were among more than 20 targeted for seizure during a joint investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the IRS’ Criminal Investigation division into the operators of Acapulco Barber Shops in 2015.

Salvador Gonzalez, 54, and one of his sons, Adrian Gonzalez, 32, owned the Acapulco chain and a barber college on the West Side, and were among eight people charged in the case. The Gonzalezes and their accomplices were sent to federal prison after pleading guilty to heroin-trafficking conspiracy and money laundering-related charges. Authorities said the ring brought in so much heroin between 2014 and 2015, it was a primary supplier for the Texas Mexican Mafia.

A lawyer for Adrian Gonzalez, John Convery, has said the barber shops were not necessarily “fronts” — they actually were places customers got haircuts. Prosecutors contend proceeds from both the drug sales and haircuts were intermingled and used to buy numerous properties and business locations.

Some of the 20 properties are still tied up in litigation, according to court records and IRS-CI special agent Jason Gamez.

Those that have been cleared for auction, which will take place Wednesday, include the former barber college the Gonzalez family owned at 364 Castroville Road; barber shops at 7519 Somerset Road, 1828 Nogalitos St. and 356 Moursund Blvd.; houses at 1046 Rivas St. and 344 Moursund Blvd.; a vacant commercial lot at 3727 Nogalitos St. and what used to be an appliance repair shop at 1124 N. Zarzamora St.

Also being auctioned is a former Acapulco barber shop at 1409 10th St. in Floresville. A barber shop in Seguin that was part of the criminal case is not among those being auctioned because an owner claims she was unaware her property was being used for illegal operations and is contesting the civil forfeiture proceedings, according to Gamez and court records. That case could head to trial.

Open houses are scheduled over the weekend for the properties to be sold. The auction is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter, 101 Bowie Street, Room 7. The auction is being handled via contract by CWS Marketing Group, Inc.